Variable-speed gearing



Dec. 8, 1925.

C. EGGART VARIABLE SPEED GEARING Filed Oct. 7. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOI? 6K3? Y I I 7 jATTOR/lfli C. EGGART VARIABLE SPEED GEARINGFiled Oct. 7, 1922 2 Sheets-$heet 2 IN l/E N TOR til nism a and thecloth guide a Patented Dec. 8, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL EGGART, 0F ARBON, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETE ANONYME ADOLPHESAURER, OF ARBON, SWITZERLAND, A CORPORATION OF SWITZERLAND.

VARIABLE-SPEED GEARING.

Application filed October 7, 1922. Serial No. 592,950.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, CARL Eeeixnr, a citizen .of the Republic ofSwitzerland, residing in Arbon, Switzerland, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Variable- Speed Gearing, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part hereof.

Various devices have been produced heretofore for regulating the numberof picks per inch in the fabric. Some of such clevices do not operateunder positive mechanical control and therefore fail sometimes tofunction properly when the loom is operated at a relatively high speed.Other devices operate under positive mechanical control but necessitatea substitution of gears for every change in the number of picks. Theobject of this invention is to produce posi tively operating meanswhereby the desired change in the rate at which the completed fabric isdrawn through the loom can be regulated and the number of picks per inchof the fabric thereby also regulated, which means shall be complete initself and can be adjusted readily at the will of the weaver withoutrequiring any substitution of gears. The invention will be more fullyexplained hereinafter with reference to the accom-- In the embodiment ofthe invention represented in the drawings the frame a supports in usualmanner the warp beams a,the yarn guides (4 the heddles 0, the shuttlemecha- From the cloth guide 0. the completed fabric passes about a clothroller Z) (hereinafter called a driven member), over a roller b. andbetween the same and a roller b and thence to the cloth beam Z7 on whichthe fabric is rolled up as the weaving progresses. The

rollers 79 and b are provided with gears 6 and 72 both of which areengaged by an intel-mediate gear 6 so that the rollers 72 and b shall bedriven at the same speed and in vthe proper relative. directions. Theroller 5 need not be driven positivelybut may rest by its own weightupon the rollers b and 6 The number of picks per inch of the fabricdepends upon the speed at which the cloth rollers, by which the fabricand the warps arev drawn through the loom, are driven in relation to thespeed of the loom, that is, of the mechanism by which the shed is formedand the shuttle is driven. If the cloth rollers are driven at ahigherspeed the number of picks per inch will be smaller, while if thecloth rollers are driven ata slower speed the number ofpicks will be.greater. The

present invention is concernedparticularly with the variable speedmechanism througl' which the cloth rollers are driven from the mainshaft 0 of the loom in timed relation with the shuttle mechanismindicated at a" and the shedding mechanism, represented by the heddles aThis variable speed mech-' anism, in the form illustrated in thedrawing, will now be described.

' Mounted upon a shaft 03, supported in suit able bearings in. the frameof the loom and driven by any convenient means from the main drivingshaft 0, is one member 03 of a Geneva gear, the other member d of whichis fixed upon a sleeve al which isrota-tably mounted on a shaft 6,supported in suitable bearings carried by a housing (Z Fixed upon thesleeve (Z so as to'be rotated therewith with an intermittent or step bystep rotation, through the Geneva gear cl, (Z or any other suitablemechanism for; producing a step by steprotation are variable speed idriving gears (Z d, 03 (Z (Z and (Z the pitch diameters of these gearsvarying by gradations correspondlng to the varying number of picks perinch in the completed fabric for which it is desired to provide.

Meshing with the several gears d (1, etc, are corresponding gears f 7,etc., which are mounted loosely upon a hollow shaft 7, rotatably mountedin bearings supported by the housing (2*. The hollow shaft f is slot tedlongitudinally, as at f", and also as at F. Likewise mounted loosely onthe left hand portion of the hollow shaft f are gears 9 g 9 etc,likewise of difl'erent pitch diameters,

the difi'erence between the pitch diameters of successive gears beingpreferably small as compared-with the difference between pitch diametersof: successive gears of the series 7, 7, etc. The gears g 9 etc., meshwith Corresponding gears 7L5, it, etc., which are fixed on the shaft e.

Means are provided whereby, under control of the weaver, any one of thegears f 7, etc, and any one of the gears 9 9, etc., can be connected tothe hollow shaft 7 to rotate therewith, the combination of any one ofthe gears 9 g, etc., with any one of the.

gears 7, f, etc., making possible a very great number of speedvariations of the driven shaft 6 and a correspondingly great number ofvariations in the number of'picks per inch in the eon'ipleted fabricbetween the predetermined limits.

As a convenient means for effecting engagement at will of one or anotherof the gears f f and of the gears 9 g with the hollow shaft, 7, thereare provided within the hollow shaft longitudinally movable carriers iand z", carrying respectively pivoted, spring pressed dogs i and 2'adapted to engage notches f 9 in the respective wheels of the twoseries, the tooth of each dog being cammed for co-operation with thenotches so that each dog shall be held in yielding engagement with asingle wheel and prevented from engagement with two wheels at the sametime. For convenience in operation the carriers 2' and 2", which arecylindrical, may be formed with peripheral gearteeth as at itand 2' forengagement by gears 11 and 2' connected with indicating and settinghandles i and 2'", shown in Figure 1.

Movement is transmitted from the shaft 0 to one of the cloth rollers, as6 by any convenient means, as by a worm e, meshing I with a worm gear efixed to the roller 6 It will be seen that by the provision of a unitaryspeed changing gear, complete in itself, between the driving gear whichoper ates in timed relation with the shuttle mechanism and sheddingmechanism of the loom, and the driven member or cloth roller, the speedat which the completed fabric is drawn through the loom and thereforethe number of picks in a unit of length can be regulated readily at thewill of the weaver without necessitating the substitution of gears whileat the same time the driven member orcloth roller is at all times drivenby positive mechanical means so that there can be no failure of themechanism to function properly at any speed.

It will be understood that various changes in details of constructionand arrangement can be made to suit difierent conditions of use, theconvenience of the manufacturer, etc., and that the invention, except aspointed out in the claim, is not limited to the details of constructionand arrangement shownand described herein.

I claim as my invention:

The combination of a shaft operatively connected with mechanism to bedriven, a sleeve mounted to rotate freely on said shaft, means forrotating said sleeve, a series of differential gears fast on saidsleeve, a hollow shaft parallel with the first mentioned shaft, a secondseries of differential gears loosely mounted on said hollow shaft, eachin mesh with a gear of the first series of differential gears, means foroperatively connecting one or another of said gears to the hollow shaft,a third series of differential gears loosely mounted on the hollowshaft, means for operatively connecting one or another of said thirdseries of differential gears with the hollow shaft, and a fourth seriesof differential gears fast 011 the first mentionedshaft each in meshwith a gear of said third series of differential gears, the means foroperatively connecting gears of the second series with the hollow shaftbeing independent of the means for operatively connecting gears of thesecond series with said hollow shaft, and an enclosing housing havingbearings for said shafts adapted to hold the several sets ofdifferential gears against endwise move ment.

This specification signed this th day of August A. D. 1922.

' CARL EGGART.

